(EXPIRED) Rakuten: Earn 5%/5x In-Store With Walmart, Staples, Bed Bath & Beyond & Old Navy (Must Link Mastercard)

Update 8/7/21: The terms of the Staples offer include a couple more limits – details on those have been added below. Thanks to Roman for the heads up about those.

The Deal

• Earn 5%/5x from Rakuten when paying with a linked Mastercard in-store at the following retailers:
  • Walmart
  • Staples
  • Bed Bath & Beyond
  • Old Navy
• Direct link to offer.

Key Terms

• Expires August 22, 2021.
• Offer valid at participating US stores only.
• Purchases are subject to applicable store policies.
• In-Store Cash Back offers are not valid for online orders.
• To earn In-Store Cash Back you must link the In-Store Cash Back offer to your qualified Mastercard credit or debit card (if applicable) connected to your Rakuten account and pay with the linked card by 8/22/21 at 8:59pm PT.
• Debit card purchases must be processed as signature, i.e., credit transactions, in order to be eligible for Cash Back.
• In-Store Cash Back offers are valid for 1 transaction and must be relinked for each following transaction in order to earn Cash Back.
• Only US-issued payment cards are eligible to earn Cash Back.
• Offer not valid for gift card purchases.
• Staples only – Limit of 1 redemption per user for this offer. Maximum cash back amount of $50 per redemption.

Tips & Ideas

This has the potential to be a great offer as earning 5% (or 5x Membership Rewards) at stores like Walmart and Staples is a very nice return.

All four of these stores have third party gift card racks, but note that there’s a gift card exclusion. That may or may not be enforced; I’ve had gift card purchases from Rakuten in-store deals track and pay out in the past, but Rakuten also clawed back cashback when they offered in-store cashback at Office Depot/OfficeMax in the past. I suspect that there’s a higher likelihood of clawbacks with this particular deal than with other in-store card-linked offers Rakuten has, but it might still be worth a try seeing as there’s no limit listed per transaction.

A downside of this offer is that you have to pay with a Mastercard which means that Staples won’t stack with 5x on a Chase Ink Plus or Ink Cash card as those are Visa cards.

h/t Chris